actresses-from-italy

"A beautiful woman, even at seventy, is a beautiful woman, damn it, and if she has talent, you have to admit it, not despise the beautiful woman."

"(About acting) I think a little training is good, but I also believe that instinct is what wins out."

"(About Marilyn Monroe) When we met, the first thing she told me was that they called her the American Gina Lollobrigida. She was surprisingly modest, and I immediately liked her."

"There is less emotion in cinema today. There are stories that unfold in a setting of absolute futurism, and when I see them, I change the channel. In Italian cinema, when it was number one in the world, and that's what I was lucky enough to do, there was more emotion. People would watch a film and identify with it, they would cry and get emotional. There was something in the films that touched our emotions."

"(About the reasons for her marriage to Milko Skofic) Well, there was a reason... I had a misadventure, like many women. There was a wretch who took advantage of me, a footballer from Lazio. He drugged me, I was a virgin... What was I going to report him for? In those days... Now he's dead. I tried to convince myself that nothing had happened, but you don't forget something like that. Afterwards, I got together with Milko. It wasn't that he wanted to marry me, I wanted to, to have a normal life, I felt ruined... It was certainly a marriage of convenience on his part. He played tennis and counted money, that's all he did. When it became legal to do so, I divorced him."

"What makes me angry is that they have always tried to take something away from women, and this continues today. It is always men who move forward and women who are always one step behind, and this is not fair. We should have a little equality."

"[Which recognition do you value most?] The four stamps that San Marino had printed with my face on them. It's a privilege reserved for kings and queens."

"She makes Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple."

"Sequels are always made for purely commercial reasons, i.e. to allow producers to make more money. However, they are extremely damaging to an artist's career."

"Gossip only lasts a few days, it dies down very quickly and the truth prevails once again."

"I wasn't passionate about cinema. I did it to help my family. We were displaced in Rome and needed to eat. Those were the years when actors were picked up off the street. Some people stopped me as I was leaving school and asked me if I wanted to be in films, and I said no, that I wasn't interested. Then they offered me a thousand lire a day, and that convinced me to become an actress."

"Interviewer: You also joke a lot about death, calling it the Musona... Vanoni: I've already made arrangements: I've asked Paolo Fresu to play at my funeral, I'll wear a beautiful loose-fitting pleated dress, and I'll have my make-up artist do my make-up. I'll look great. I don't want to die late, I couldn't bear to stay at home doing nothing."

"Raffaella Carrà was one of the symbols of Italian television, perhaps its most beloved personality. She will be missed by millions of viewers who loved her for her style and by all those who, like me, had the opportunity to know her and work with her. I loved her very much. With her programmes, she was able to speak to very different generations, having the ability to always keep up with the times and never resorting to vulgarity."

"Interviewer: What is your relationship with faith? Venier: Strong and unpredictable. I often feel the need to go to church and pray. In Rome, I go to Santo Spirito in Sassia, near St Peter's. I need to talk to God, discuss things, sometimes let off steam. It's a personal, very intimate relationship."

"Mina was not, but she is. Mina did not “leave a mark”, but she leaves one every day. [4]"

"My mother revealed what they found so extraordinary about my belly button: "They like it because it's a Bolognese belly button.""

"I will die without knowing. On my tombstone, I will write: ‘Why did gay people like me so much?’[3]"

"I'm glad I didn't get big-headed, I have a lot of self-irony. You have to be at peace with yourself to do this job."

"Inteviewer: You are always ironic... Vanoni: Humour alleviates fear. We need to play, because we are living in tragic times. I feel exhausted and saddened after reading the newspapers and listening to the news. It seems that human beings cannot help but wage war. This is the zeitgeist: the spirit of the times is war. Then we also have Donald Trump, so we're in a bad way..."

"I have always hated labels and have never made distinctions between straight and gay people. For me, there is only the person, and I think that every individual should have the same rights."

"(About Gino Paoli) He's a cat. I don't know, I didn't see him for three days, then I went downstairs and he was sitting on the steps of the front door. His first child was mine, but then I lost him."

"(About the reason why the homosexual audience likes her) Because, deep down, I am also very gay. Not sexually speaking, of course, but in an introspective way, there is a humanity that truly unites us. It sounds cliché, I know, but all my closest friends, since before anyone suspected anything, are gay."

"Milan has some beautiful areas, it is beautiful in the fog, it is a bit like a woman wearing a veil."

"I hope to live in a country where no one has to declare anything anymore. Love exists, period. I would like to get to that point, where no one has to say what their sexual orientation is anymore. We all love, that's it."

"(About Mina) When I was asked to celebrate her birthday, I thought about the value of the present and the past, and I realised that the imperfect or recent past tenses are not suitable for her. The right tense is the present indicative."

"Siempre voto comunista."

"I rule out Mina reappearing, because it would be a mistake and she doesn't make mistakes in this sense. Mina is a legend because we can only imagine her. We don't know what she is anymore. She is a memory, and that is her strength. If she did appear, it would be a huge success, people would kill to get a ticket. But she would lose her depth. In short, Mina must not be seen, otherwise she is not a legend. And she knows this very well. Legends either die young or disappear."

"It's very true, I wanted to be a nun. When I was little, I went to the Canossian Sisters, and there was a mother superior who was my role model, and I wanted to be like her. Then, as I grew up, I changed my mind."

"Interviewer: Among the companions of her life, you mention loneliness... Vanoni: I have the letter S for Solitude tattooed on my chest. I have always felt alone. For as long as I can remember, since I was a child. A feeling of incompleteness, the certainty of having a vulnerable side and that no one can really protect you."

"Don't trust people in show business, they're not very sincere. When you're at the top, they're all your friends, but as soon as you have a problem, they turn their backs on you."

"Interviewer: Are you in favour of adoption for same-sex couples? Venier: Of course! I really can't understand why there are so many preconceptions. There's a lot of talk about it, but no one understands that behind this issue there is only one word: love, and it's all simpler than it seems. When I talk to friends and colleagues, I always ask, 'Do you really think a child is better off in an orphanage than with two people ready to give them lots of love?"

"The Lirico theatre was dedicated to Gaber, the two Piccolo venues to Strehler and Grassi, the Liberty building to Fo and Rame, and the Studio to Melato; there was nothing left for me, which is why I am appealing to Mayor Beppe Sala: dedicate a flowerbed in the city centre to me."

"I am fond of very few things. I believe that every house has its own soul that must be respected. There is no point in dragging around baggage from other lives. You start over every time."

"[Before the general election on 4 March 2018] Who will I vote for? I'm voting for mma Bonino. The best foreign minister, a radical woman who has always fought for her beliefs. We owe abortion, divorce and living wills to the Radical Party. They fought for these three concrete things."

"Stendhal must have been high when he said that the landscape of Lombardy was the most beautiful in the world... This grey sky."

"Gay Pride has a political agenda, but it's still a party. A big party. ... As a party animal like me, how could I not like an event like that? I have a blast. I saw my first one many years ago in New York, in 1985 if I'm not mistaken. I was with Jerry Calà. As soon as I saw it, I was immediately fascinated by all the colour."

"(About Giorgio Strehler) The first year, he followed my tram in his car. Then he drove me home and it was love. Giorgio was such a genius and I was so overwhelmed by passion... My father lost his voice. I lived at the Piccolo, I slept with Giorgio. He was the man who loved me the most. [...] I left him, he made me suffer, he had vices I couldn't stand. But he introduced me to culture. He talked and I kept quiet: I just had to learn. He sensed that I could sing, he made me write songs about the underworld."

"I had become Roman at the time of Rugantino. Aldo Fabrizi taught me the slower, more indolent pace of life and acting. When we went to Milan, Garinei, Giovannini and Trovajoli would put on their fur hats and take their passports like Totò and Peppino in the film. They teased me."

"For a poet, everything becomes material."

"While romantic love is complicated, the love you feel for your children and grandchildren is a love made of serenity."

"Among those in the hip hop world, Marracash is the best, I think the Premio Tenco award is justified. But I listen to other things, I like Cosmo, I like Maneskin even if they need to write new songs, as I know they are doing... But I have to say one thing about Damiano. I'm not the type to be shocked, but even Mick Jagger, the most sinful of singers, didn't show his bare arse on stage. What's the point of showing your bum? It's not in good taste..."

"I don't get any satisfaction from being Ornella Vanoni, I've never been super egocentric. I have my own way of being, people thought I was unpleasant or snobbish, but the truth is that I was incredibly shy and insecure. I cured that with theatre and with Strehler, with the audience, with music."

"I think the best of Renato. I think he's full of imagination. It's not true that he imitates ambiguous British singers, as they say. He's been like that for 10 years, he's always dressed in a certain crazy way, he doesn't imitate anyone. He's a hybrid, but his real strength lies in the fact that he was born in the suburbs of Rome, among real people. And he has remained a “suburbanite”, with the sincerity and humanity of those people. More than ambiguous, he is one of them. For kids, he is a fairy tale, he is Disneyland, with dreams and hopes. Even for kids, he is one of them. That's why he's successful."

"Was I sensual? Yes, I realised that quite early on. And yes, of course, I played on it."

"I am a courageous woman, not a strong one. I am very fragile and I pay for everything with tears and effort."

"My breasts? You're exaggerating, they've always been large. Then, when I became a mother early on, they exploded."

"Trieste is a beautiful, wonderful city; all seaside cities are beautiful, but Trieste is particularly so because it is right on the sea."

"Mina is the greatest Italian singer, even though for some years now she has not cared about singing, and you can tell. I envied her greatly for her joyful success. Italy went crazy for her. Good humour exploded from this girl who moved against the whining of the time. And since she is gifted by God, she has this surprising ease: she sings with the same ease as someone doing anything else. She is still capable of evoking great emotions. It makes me angry because she makes records because it suits her, and I don't agree with that. You either do this job well or you don't do it at all. I say to myself: you have the money, so for goodness' sake make a record with Gil Evans, with a big orchestra. Enjoy yourself."

"Interviewer: What was it like to duet with [[w:Eros Ramazzotti|Ramazzotti? Vanoni: Nothing. He doesn't give off anything. When I sang with Dalla, Gino, Jovanotti, Renato Zero, something happened to me, but with Ramazzotti I didn't feel any emotion."

"All my life I have been a passer-by and have always sought out secondary paths. I am always fascinated by what I do not know, and those are the secondary paths. And that is my goal."